Help connecting a Panasonic DMP-BD45EB-K to a V-Cube 5.1 Home Cinema System

[LisaTechnoPhobe]

Hi guys,

I recently bought a Panasonic DMP-BD45EB-K Blu Ray player in the hope that it would connect to my existing 5.1 speakers, however I later learned that the original DVD player which the speakers came with was also the amplifier and could not use the speakers with the Blu Ray player. Make sense so far?

Anyway, after lots of research online I bought a new set of speakers, with a built in amplifier. I checked the Panasonic website and my Blu Ray player has a 5.1 decoder built in so no problem there.

The speakers came this morning, and I've tried to plug them in however, I need 6 jacks on the back of my Blu Ray player for all the speakers to work, but I only have 2 (red and white) and a yellow video out which I don't think is relevant. At the minute I only have 2.1 as obviously, they are the only speakers plugged into the Blu Ray player.

In order to connect the other 3 speakers and subwoofer do I need an adapter of some kind? Or am I fighting a losing battle?

Any help much appreciated, and I may be able to supply more specific information if you ask me in simple terms!!

Many thanks in advance,

Lisa

 

[Broadz]

That V-cube thing seems to be a pack of cheap and nasty speakers - it doesn't include a Dolby Digital or DTS amplifier which provides 5.1 audio for the speakers. It is really aimed at being connected to a computer - certainly not part of a home cinema system. You need an amp which will run the six speakers (though I'd get rid of the V-cube speakers and get some decent ones) and you need to connect your Blu Ray player to the amp using an optical cable.

With a bit of luck your original home cinema system (DVD player plus speakers) also accepted external inputs from an optical source - so you could just connect the Blu Ray player to the optical input and use your original speakers as the 5.1 speakers for your Blu Ray player - which means you can send the V-Cube speakers back to wherever they came from and never let them darken your doorstep again...

 

[LisaTechnoPhobe]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. All the speakers work seperately, just haven't got the connection for them all to be plugged in at once. So I think the amplifier is built in based on that? Correct me if I'm wrong!!

Can't afford anything better at the minute, so I'm stuck with these, and I'm a sucker for anything that glows!

Basically my Blu Ray player has optical out, but my speakers only have the RCA connections. I rang the company and they said that I could have 5.1 but not in the sense of say, a car driving past etc like the full cinema experience. But having switched it to 5.1 only the left and right front speakers are working, because, surprise surprise they are the only one's plugged into the Blu Ray player. Frustrated is not the word!!

Lisa

 

[Broadz]

I rang the company and they said that I could have 5.1

They lied. It only supports analogue input. You cannot get 5.1 surround sound from an analogue input. What happened to the speakers and DVD player that made up your old home cinema system? That is more likely to support digital optical input - and will certainly have been capable of handling DD/DTS audio, as DVDs are all encoded with DD/DTS soundtracks.

 

[LisaTechnoPhobe]

The DVD player broke :-(

 

[Broadz]

The DVD player broke :-(

But does the amplifier and speakers still work? Because if so, use your Blu Ray player for playing both DVDs and Blu Ray discs, and use the DVD player/amplifier to produce the audio from the Blu Ray player. A home cinema provides both the DVD player and the amp/speakers. Nobody is forcing you to use the DVD player part of it - just use the audio part of it.

 

[LisaTechnoPhobe]

As far as I'm aware yeah, just wouldn't play DVDs. So how would I do that then? Play through the Blu Ray and listen through the old one?

 

[Broadz]

As far as I'm aware yeah, just wouldn't play DVDs. So how would I do that then? Play through the Blu Ray and listen through the old one?

What model is your old home cinema system? Does it support optical in (most do)? If so - run an optical cable from Blu Ray out to home cinema in. Select optical in as source on home cinema rather than the default of DVD (probably called D-In or something like that). The Blu Ray player will play the discs - but the DD/DTS audio will be sent via the optical cable from the BDP to the home cinema system, and from there to the five speakers plus sub-woofer. Which your V-Cube system will never be able to do - because it only supports analogue stereo in from home cinema kit. It only provides 5.1 output from a computer soundcard connection.